2012 was a slow year due to political and economic uncertainty. But according to the GBTA, travel spending in 2013 should see a modest growth.

GBTA forecast a 4.6% growth in 2013 to $266.7B, mainly due to international outbound travel. “While companies will approach the first half of the year with some caution, pent-up demand to get back on the road should hopefully fuel accelerating growth in business travel spending through the end of 2013,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA’s executive director, in a release.

Key elements for growth are:

International travel spending is projected to rise 5.9 percent

and

Group travel spending is forecast to gain 5.2 percent

In 2012, U.S. business travel spending was ~ $254.9 billion, according to the report sponsored by Visa. This spending increase from 2011 was mainly due to rising cost of airfares, car rentals and other travel services.